“American Needs to be More European”
http://sites.psu.edu/laurelpetrulionisleadershipblog/2013/11/20/america-needs-to-be-more-european/
Laurel,
I really like your post “America needs to be More European”. I couldn’t agree more that the document that is the basis for our government in the United States should be updated often in order to keep up with our evolving society. To state the obvious, our country is very different now than it was 200 and some years ago. I don’t pretend to be an expert on this but even with the amendments in place, the Constitution could probably use a makeover because it was surely not written for the USA today.
One example I feel illustrates this point well is the Second Amendment or the right to bear arms. One of the major arguments in support of gun rights is that we must protect the Second Amendment, if gun rights are taken away than that violates the Constitution. This may be true, however, this amendment was implemented in 1791, which was 222 years ago, and has not been updated since. In other words it does not reflect American society today. Maybe 222 years ago we Americans needed to carry guns to protect ourselves because our country was not as developed. When we think about it, in today’s society do we really need to carry guns or keep them at our house? I don’t think so and frankly knowing that people around me may be carrying guns makes me feel unsafe. To me the Second Amendment is outdated and this is probably the case for the whole document.
Anyway Laurel, I think the class that you took sounds really awesome. I bet it would be really interesting to study the Constitution in comparison with the TFEU.
http://sites.psu.edu/remeanie/2013/11/20/class-reflection-racism-and-cultural-appropriation/
Remy,
I really appreciate your post. To be honest with you I have never even considered the fact that so many sports teams have names that for some are offensive. My Dad is a diehard New York Giants fan and one of the big rivals of the Giants is the Washington R*dskins. I have heard the name so often growing up and not once have I considered the fact that it is a racial slur until reading your post (sad but true ).
I don’t watch sports enough to know about these team’s mascots. However, if people are speaking out and saying that the names and mascots are offensive, that is a good enough reason to change the names of the teams or at the very least, get a conversation going on the topic. Like you said, it’s really not complicated.
You couldn’t be more right in mentioning the fact that it is no one’s right BUT the Native American people’s to say what is or is not offensive to them.
My question is, in the United States of America, where do we draw the line with political correctness? This country is so obsessed with being politically correct. Sometimes we get so caught up in it that we can’t even express ourselves because we are afraid of offending some group somewhere. It’s like walking on eggshells. Is it possible to be too politically correct that you just don’t end up saying anything at all?
*** Disclaimer*** I am not saying that the issue you talk about in your post is one of those times. This is just a general question about political correctness.
